First the bad news; we did not raise a sail all day, not enough wind. The good news, it
was a good day. Hardly a cloud in the sky, sun bathing weather, the ocean was gently
rocking and rolling. Everyone slept late because there was no reason to get up. I put the
fishing lines out 3 of them and Ant put out the pole that he restrung with 200 pound test
line and tested the new drag setting. Three Tuna Thrashers and a Squid lure, 4 lines out
in all.
All of a sudden we were in a panic; Ant is on watch but cleaning up rigging lines from the
struggle with the sails overnight and is not looking out in front of us. We sometimes go
minutes without bothering because we are only going 7.3 knots and 99.999% of the time
there is nothing there. Making sure we look every 15 minutes is good enough. Well it turns
out we almost hit a dead whale that is floating near the surface. We did not feel a
collision so no harm to Bella Donna. I can't tell what Ant is so excited about. Then I
realize he is pulling in the 200 pound line, by hand, that is also attached to the real;
he must have a fish. I see it fighting and jumping out of the water 300 feet behind the
boat. Then the hand line nearest to it mysteriously crosses Ant's line. We both assume the
fish has tangled himself up in the hand line and visualize a mess. Ant takes the tangled
line and hands me the pole line and I continue trying to pull it in. There is definitely a
large fish on my line; he almost pulls me off the stern into the Pacific. I wonder why we
are not using the pole; it is too late now, 100 feet of line is on deck and the fish is
fighting hard. Miraculously the lines uncross; Ant and I look at each other; we are both
fighting a fish; we just caught 2 fish at once, how about that. Ant pulls his fish into
the unused swim ladder well at sea level on the first step of the port scoop stairs. The
fish is a 30 pound Mahi Mahi. I continue to fight my fish; I hope the monofilament line
does not cut the skin on my hand. I rest and just let the fish pull and fight. Whenever he
stops to think, I pull him closer to the swim ladder well. The Mahi Mahi has been given a
cheap permanent sleep with the cheap liquor we bought in Panama and Ant has moved him onto
deck making room for fish number two in the ladder well. Eventually we work the still
fighting 5 foot 50 pound Wahoo into the ladder well with the aid of a gaff hook. The
fish's tail won't fit in the well; we can not close it. This started before noon; a little
after 2 PM we were washing the deck and the several bags of fish steaks were in the
fridge. Deborah says all the available room in the fridge is now taken. We take in our
fishing lines; we have enough. Lunch anyone; we are having fish quiche for lunch.
We figure lots of fish were hanging out around the dead whale; they were having a fish
party. We were just lucky. We heard about a commercial fishing boat that found a dead
turtle and circled the turtle until they filled their boat with fish. This must be
nature's way of providing a temporary fishing spot.
Later in the day we talked to Sail Dancer, the last sailboat in front of us. They were
short on fuel and were restricted to sailing even though the wind was so light; their
speed was about 5 knots. We are catching up with them fast at 7.5 knots and may pass them
in a couple of days; they are about 100 miles ahead of us. Since we have more fuel left
than we need to make Nuku Hiva we offered Sail Dancer some of the fuel we have in jerry
cans on the deck. The captain said he would ask the owner and get back to us. The captain
said they were talking to a fishing boat nearby that just recorded a catch of 5,000 pounds
of Tuna; maybe they found the dead whale too. A helicopter was leaving the fishing boat.
Sail Dancer asked if they could drop a Tuna as they flew past. The answer was no, because
of liability issues. However, an hour later a speed boat pulls up to Sail Dancer with a
100 pound Tuna, how about that for a fishing story. They put more in their fridge than we did.
Silkie is so far behind us now we are having trouble making radio contact. John and Susan
have each other and are content to sail in the light wind.
We got the bar-b-q out and broiled hunks of Wahoo as big as your fist wrapped in bacon.
The music was Bankie Banks, Beach Boys and Jimmy Buffet. Deborah made fudge and more
peanut butter cookies for desert. The only thing I missed was a good glass of wine, but no
drinking on passage.
God Bless Bella Donna.
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